Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Doha – As anticipation mounts over the United Kingdom’s potential support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, the UK government has reiterated its alignment with the United Nations-led political process to resolve the long-standing dispute.
In a recent parliamentary response, Labour MP Hamish Falconer, representing the Minister for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, stated that “successive UK Governments have regarded the status of Western Sahara as undetermined.”
Falconer emphasized that “the UK supports UN-led efforts to reach a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, based on compromise.”
The Labour MP made the statement in response to a question by Conservative MP Andrew Murrison, who inquired about the potential merits of supporting Morocco’s Autonomy Plan for Western Sahara, in the wake of such a decision by France, the United States, Israel, and Spain.
Falconer specifically highlighted the UK’s backing of the work of Staffan de Mistura, the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara.
The minister revealed that he had “a constructive discussion today with Staffan de Mistura” on September 18, in London, where they discussed “the importance of the UN-led political process” and the potential for “finding a solution agreed by all would contribute significantly to regional security and prosperity.”
The meeting with de Mistura comes at a crucial time, as the UN Secretary-General is set to publish a new report on the situation in Western Sahara in the coming weeks.
The UN Security Council is also expected to adopt a resolution in late October to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for an additional year.
Read also: British Minister: Morocco Can Count on UK as Reliable Partner
Despite the UK’s current alignment with the UN-led political process, there are growing calls from British MPs for the government to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
In May, more than 30 British MPs wrote a letter to the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, urging the recognition of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible political solution to end the dispute.
Despite its cautious approach to the Sahara dispute, the newly elected British government recently dealt a major setback to the separatist Polisario Front by reaffirming its commitment to the 2019 UK-Morocco Association Agreement.
Labour MP Hamish Falconer stated, “We do not consider commercial activities in Western Sahara to be illegal, provided they respect the interests of the Sahrawi people.”
Experts and analysts speaking to Morocco World News (MWN) have previously weighed in on the potential impact of the Labour Party’s victory on UK-Morocco relations and the Western Sahara policy.
Sabri Lhou, a lawyer and expert on international law, migration issues, and the Western Sahara conflict, expressed confidence that the change in government “will not change the direction, nature, and pace in favor of Morocco.”
Mohamed El Ghali, an expert in political science and constitutional law at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, echoed this sentiment. The Labour Party must act to preserve Britain’s strategic interests, and it would be misguided to believe that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government could take steps that would seriously damage the UK’s relations with Morocco, he stated.
While observers continue to anticipate a potential shift in the UK’s Western Sahara stance, the recent parliamentary response and meetings with UN officials suggest that for now, London wants to remain constructively neutral to err on the side of caution on a complex, decades-old issue.
It remains to be seen whether, as with France and Spain, Rabat will eventually condition the continuation of its strong ties with London on unambiguous support for Moroccan territorial integrity.
